Tuesday, March 15, 2011

2011 Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 6

Cadel Evans continues to dominate the Tirreno-Adriatico, former World Champion, leads the rankings and gave another solid performance yesterday as he won the 6th stage which saw the race arrive in Macerata after a final two and a half kilometre climb. Evans arrived ahead of the Italian Champion Giovanni Visconti, last year’s Vuelta winner, Vincenzo Nibali, and Michele Scarponi. Scarponi was unable to take full advantage of the good work his teammate Damiano Cunego did in the closing phase of this stage, as with a final sprint of just over two kilometres he tried to break away with a pack of elite towards the finish line.

After the finish Evans said, "Can you believe how thin I am? I’ve been working hard, I rarely fired up the barbeque this winter. The programme developed with the Centro Mapei this year has been slightly different and now I am seeing the results. I am also pleased for the team. The dedication? Every time I get on the bike my thoughts go out to Aldo Sassi, we worked together for many years.”

Now the team captain of the BMC has a lead in the overall rankings of 9” on Scarponi and 12” of Ivan Basso, who will try to work his way back up in the final chrono session today on the traditional seaside course of San Benedetto del Tronto (a flat, short, 9.3 Km). It won’t be easy as Evans is also doing well and can defend himself in the time trials; furthermore he has already demonstrated he is on great form.

The final 8 km of the stage:

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